


Do You Not Recognize Me?

by stellaisnotamermaid



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: BAMF Merlin, Dark!Merlin, Kidnapping, M/M, Merthur - Freeform, Possessive Merlin, enemy sorcerer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 03:01:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16945740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellaisnotamermaid/pseuds/stellaisnotamermaid
Summary: Arthur wakes up after being kidnapped and sees a new side to his manservant





	Do You Not Recognize Me?

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write dark!merlin for some reason.  
> i dont own anything. there is (human) death but it isn't graphic. nothing that doesn't happen in the show.

Arthur watched the sorcerer in fear. He was shackled to a pole inside a heavy cloth tent, and couldn't remember how he had gotten there.

He'd been on a hunt, or something. Maybe.

Suddenly, dread filled him as he remembered what had happened. Merlin. His pathetic manservant had been with him, and then they'd been ambushed.

It had been out of nowhere--they'd just come out of the Valley of Fallen Kings, and he heard Merlin yelp in surprise. Then, nothing.

Forcing down the panic, he listened in to the sorcerer's conversation. The other speaker was out of sight.

“I apologize for attacking you, I did not realize that you were one of us.” The sorcerer said.

“I do not mind that you attacked me, Rairel.” When Arthur recognized the voice, confusion filled him. Maybe he hadn't heard correctly.

There was no way he could have possibly heard that correctly. Never in a million years would he expect  _that person_ to abandon him. To betray him.

A flash if anger crossed the man's face. “Sir,” he said.

“Pardon?” the other's voice replied.

“When addressing older, stronger sorcerers, you must have respect.” He snapped.

“Of course.” A hint of laughter was tangled in the voice, as if Rairel hadn't been informed of an inside joke occurring.

“Now do me a favour and execute our prisoner.” Rairel ordered.

“Pardon?” The other voice asked. A hard edge had crept into it.

“You heard me, boy.”

The person out of sight started laughing--darkly, as though he found something _hilarious_ in the man's words.

“I thought you said to be polite when addressing your superiors?” He asked.

“Yes, I did." Rairel replied. "What's your point?”

“Then _why_ aren't you?” The voice replied, venom seeping into every word.

“I don't know who you are, boy, but I am _much_ older and wiser than you.” Rairel growled. "Watch your tongue."

“Oh, I don't doubt that." He laughed, then paused. "But do you not recognize me?”

“Should I?”

“Everybody else seems to,” was the answer that he got.

"They call me Emrys.”

At these words, Rairel blanched and stepped back a few feet.

"I didn't realize-" he began.

“And _nobody_ threatens my king. Not even you, Rairel. Those who have… they did not live to regret it.”

“I'm sorry, I didn't think that-”

“That's just it,” Merlin interrupted. “You didn't realize. You didn't stop to think. Instead, you threatened what is _mine_.” Rairel’s companions circled the two sorcerers, then moved to attack Merlin, but he threw them back over fifty feet with a mere flick of his wrist.

“Where is he?” Merlin demanded. Wind swirled around them, whipping the flaps of the tent and stinging Arthur's face.

He blinked as dirt flew into his eyes, and coughed.

“The tent.” Rairel replied. Those were the last words he ever said.

Despite being a knight, Arthur almost lost his lunch at the noise that Rairel's skull made as it connected with a rock. Blood soaked the ground around him.

Merlin stormed into the tent, scanning Arthur for injuries. He flinched back as far as he could, the shackles rubbing his skin raw. “ _You_ -”

“Yes, _me_.” Merlin replied. “How else would a prat like you have survived this long?”

He snapped, and the shackles around Arthur's wrists disintegrated. “Let's go.”

Arthur didn't move, he was paralyzed with fear and confusion.

"You betrayed me," he whispered.

Merlin narrowed his eyes. "Yes, because saving your life  _every single day_ for the past _five years_ is the definition of betrayal. Now are you coming, or do you want to wait for the rest of them to arrive? I may be powerful, but I'm not in the mood to fight one hundred sorcerers at the same time."

Arthur let Merlin pull him ahead to the horses, and climbed on numbly.

When Merlin moved to help him, he flinched.

Merlin backed away, pain flashing in his eyes, "Prat."

**Author's Note:**

> oof I don't like this very much. I've edited it several times and it's just,,, subpar. if anybody writes a dark merlin au, hmu.


End file.
